New law of Beast Taming

"I apologize if you found my interest to be burdensome to you. That was not my intention to do."

Amane walked out of her hiding spot and headed toward the figure in the centre of the alley. She stopped once she was a few steps away from the person.

"What do you want from me? And do not give me that cheesy reply you have for everyone else. I will not fall for it."

The woman in front of Amane was on high alert. Even if she was interested in Amane, she did not let it show. Her eyes were also guarded and asking Amane what the hell did she want from the woman.

"I was hiding to see if you would need my help or not. A pretty lady like you ought to have a knight in shining armour moment, right? I wanted to be such an existence for you."

"But alas, my lady managed to take care of the situation herself and she did not even give me a chance to show what I could do."

Amane’s tone was half-playful and half-serious. It was difficult to tell what she was feeling and what her actual motivations were.

The white-cloaked figure took a step back from Amane but there was a subtle blush on her face that told Amane how much she appreciated her words. She had likely never heard such words before.

"I-I will not fall for your tricks. I know that you are trying to distract me and I refuse to allow that to happen. You better tell me the truth behind your actions."

The white-cloaked figure asked as she pointed toward Amane. She seemed convinced that Amane had a reason to come after her.

So, Amane decided to give her one. This way, the white-cloaked girl would not overthink things and would also be inclined to trust Amane more.

"Ah, you caught me. I did have a reason to come after you. You see, the disease in this town is not naturally caused but something human-made. And since you looked like such a suspicious figure, I decided to follow you and…"

"Wait a minute. Are you saying that I am the cause of this disease? Me? How can you even think that for a minute? I have nothing to do with this situation. The only reason I am here is to meet my family."

The white-cloaked female quickly explained. Her voice was strong and Amane could tell that she did not lie. She was likely here to meet her family.

"In that case, allow me to apologize to you. It was not my intention to insult you or to make you feel as if I was accusing you of something. A beautiful girl like you deserves better."

Amane gave a small bow to the female in front of her. She could tell that she was making the other girl more and more flustered by the second.

"I…stop trying to flatter me with useless words. They would not work on someone like me and a-anyway, you need to start using my name. I am Sara and I am an apprentice witch. It is nice to meet you."

Now that attracted Amane’s attention. It had been ages since she had heard of mages.

Even in her time, mages had been rare and powerful beings. They were usually non-human entities who took on a human form to live among humans.

But it was easy to spot a witch since they were often apathetic and not concerned with human life. Amane used to know a lot of witches, but there was one who was her clear favourite.

’Now that I think about it, I wonder how Vivian is doing? Witches are immortal until they want to die. But most do not understand the concept of death so they don’t ever die.’

That was a topic for another day so Amane forced these thoughts out of her mind.

"Wow, a witch? That’s a great attitude to have. So, can you use magic? How much and what kind?"

Amane’s enthusiasm was real. Since she could use magic as well, she wanted to compare the difference in her magical energy to a real witch’s.

But the more enthusiasm she showed, the more Sara looked downhearted. After several minutes, Sara looked downright miserable and she looked away.

"I…so I might not be ’as good’ as a witch as I say I am. I mean, I can perform small magic but nothing grand so…"

Amane’s eagerness seemed to have put Sara in a bind. Amane had forgotten that despite being a witch, Sara felt like a human. She likely had a hard time producing any magic to perform.

Now that Amane thought about it, she could understand why Sara was so flustered when Amane asked her to perform magic.

"You don’t have to show me anything if you do not want to. I understand that magic could be a secret art you are not allowed to practice in front of others."

Amane nodded and took a step back. Sara breathed a sigh of relief before her face was taken over by a bitter look.

"No, it’s not your fault and it is not a secret art or something. Magic for me…is a little tough and it is a sour spot. But I can still show you if you want me to."

Sara closed her fist and when she opened it, a butterfly was flying out of her hand and it landed on Amane’s shoulder.

The butterfly fluttered its wings before disappearing into a cloud of white light. It was a splendid display of basic magic.

Magic was different from the aura and abilities of the families. Usually, an individual’s power was granted to them at birth and could be nurtured. But it was a singular ability that could not branch out.

But the magic was different. Magic allowed you to do anything and everything you could imagine. You could even chance the very nature of this world if you wanted. It was the closest thing to gods and only beasts possessed it.

For the second time in her life, Amane had seen a human possess magic, and that changed a lot of things for her and the world. It was a seed of potential.

But it was also dangerous. Remembering the first human who used magic was still a little difficult for Amane.

"A-Anyway, this is all I can do for now. But I will get better in no time. My master says that I am a natural at these spells."

Amane could see why the witch who was Sara’s guardian would be so enthusiastic to have her around. Sara was a beacon of future hope. She was living proof that magic could live on in other forms as well.

But none of this had anything to do with Amane. She was here for something else.

"Ah, this is all very interesting but aren’t you here to meet your family? We should head out and check if they are alright or not."

Amane reminded Sara of this and the elder gasped out loud. She had forgotten all about why she was here in the first place.

"You are right. We need to head out and meet my family. I need to make sure that they are alright."

Sara quickly gathered herself and closed her eyes. Her hand flashed golden before a ray of light escaped her hand. It seemed to be leading her in a random direction.

"This is a detection spell I have created. Since the normal one took too much magic, I had to modify a lot of things to get it to work now."

Sara pointed out as she followed the ray of light. Amane had noticed the difference between the regular spell and this new spell she saw Sara use. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

’I see. So, Sara is intelligent enough to even modify magic spells. That should more than make up for her lack of magic skills.’

Amane followed Sara and they soon reached a city filled with hustle and bustle. Surprisingly enough, they were out of the slums and Sara quickly jumped out.

Well, she was about to when Amane stopped her and dragged her back.

"We came from a highly contaminated area and the people will not be polite to us because of this. It will be better if we change clothes and take a bath first."

It was not until they both reached the hotel that Sara remembered something very important and then she looked guilty.

"I am sorry but I don’t think I have any money on me."

Sara looked heartbroken when she said those words. As a witch, there had been no need for her to have any money. But she had lived as a human once so she knew the importance of having money for trade.

Sara was in luck that her partner was Amane. Amane had never expected Sara to pay for her room anyway.

"Don’t worry about money. I have plenty of it to cover both of our room costs so just stay here for the time being."

The hotel manager looked spooked to see them but then he recognized Amane and decided to quickly admit them into the hotel. Amane had to pay double the amount she usually would have but now she has a roof on her head. Both she and Sara quickly freshened up before it was time to head out and meet Sara’s family.